“Fish cakes are perceived as being quite British, and they’re always a bit brown and a little dull,” Yotam Ottolenghi says. To make the cakes more vibrant, he adds plenty of herbs and serves them with a tarragon-infused tomato sauce spiked with fresh red chile.

Russians usually make these fish kebabs with sturgeon, the firm-fleshed white fish prized for its caviar. Since most wild sturgeon is now endangered, look for sustainable farmed fish or try black cod or swordfish.

Instead of using salt cod, a classic Portuguese ingredient that takes days to soak, chef George Mendes quick-cures fresh cod by standing it in kosher salt for only 10 minutes. He says cod is naturally soft and flaky (“as well as bland,” he adds), so salting gives it a firmer texture and a more pronounced flavor.

With only a few ingredients, Rick Bayless’s salpimentado (salt-and-pepper) ceviche is typical of what one would find at stands around the southern tip of Baja. Cooks often make it with sierra, a large and meaty Mexican fish, but tuna works just as well.

“I’ve never met a wine I didn’t like, says Lou Amdur. One of the wackiest he’s ever tasted is the amphorae-aged Vinoterra Kisi, made from the indigenous Georgian white grape Kisi. It’s unexpectedly delicious with smoked fish.

Tim Cushman is a master at preparing raw fish. Here, he dresses salmon with a little citrus-soy dressing, then tops it with fresh ginger and chives before bathing it in a hot sesame-oil mixture. The heat from the oil cooks the salmon just slightly, creating a luxurious texture and fragrance.

Donald Link suggests grilling or roasting this fish, then serving it in its hardened skin (“on the half shell”). You can also use a large, flexible spatula to slide the fillets off the skin and onto a platter, discarding the skin, for a more elegant presentation. Redfish—a white-fleshed fish with big scales that are hard to remove—is an ideal choice, but striped bass is great too.

Mini Kahlon learned to love communal eating at family dinners in Chandigarh, India. Her bright avocado salad is delicious with her Indian-spiced dish, for a fabulous combination of cool and spicy, crunchy and creamy.

Steamed fish may sound plain, but this version is packed with flavor: It’s cooked in a ginger-and-sesame soy sauce and topped with frizzled jalapeños and scallions. “I think part of the reason people love this dish is that the sauce is a really good vehicle for rice,” Andrea Reusing says.

When he can find them, Larry Stone makes this simple dish with halibut cheeks, an inexpensive part of the fish that’s especially luscious. Pieces of fillet work well, too. Coating the fish in Wondra flour, which is very finely milled, gives it a crisp, buttery crust.

When it comes to eating well, star chef Bobby Flay champions the tried-and-true method of cooking fish in parchment. Flay swears that it's not only a foolproof method, but it also yields the perfect steamed piece of fish. He likes serving the grouper with a quick and punchy citrus sauce and a briny "martini" relish made with olives.